War in Ukraine: Mariupol defenders deny Vladimir Putin victory

Volodymyr Zelensky welcomes fresh US aid to help confront Moscow’s eastern offensive.

A Russia strikes hits Mariupol’s Azovstal steelworks on Thursday. Picture: AFP

The devastated city of Mariupol “continues to resist” despite Russian claims to have captured it, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday as he welcomed fresh US aid to help confront Moscow’s eastern offensive.

Russia says it has “liberated” the city, with just a few thousand Ukrainian soldiers left in the Azovstal plant complex, where thousands more civilians are also believed to have taken refuge.

But Mr Zelensky said the battle was continuing, with Russia “doing everything to have a reason to talk about at least some victories”.

“They can only delay the inevitable – the time when the invaders will have to leave our territory, in particular Mariupol, a city that continues to resist Russia despite everything the occupiers say,” he said in a video address.

The southern port city has been the target of relentless Russian attacks as Moscow tries to create a land bridge connecting the annexed Crimean peninsula and the Russian-based separatist statelets in the Donbas region.

Ukrainian officials have appealed for an immediate humanitarian corridor to allow civilians and wounded fighters to leave the sprawling Azovstal steel plant.

“They have almost no food, water, or essential medicine,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry said.

On Thursday, three school buses carrying evacuees arrived in the city of Zaporizhzhia after leaving Mariupol and crossing through Russian-held territory.

“I don’t want to hear any more bombing,” said Tatiana Dorash, 34, who arrived with her six-year-old son Maxim.

Ukrainian officials had hoped to evacuate many more civilians, but accused Russian forces of targeting a route used by fleeing civilians. “We apologise to the people of Mariupol who waited for evacuation today with no result,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshuk said on Telegram.

“Shelling started near the collection point, which forced the corridor to close.

“Dear Mariupol residents … we will not give up trying to get you out of there! Hold on!”

However, no evacuations would take place on Friday (local time) as the situation on the roads was too dangerous, an official said.

Mr Zelenksy said Russia had rejected a proposed truce over the Orthodox Christian Easter holiday this weekend. And he accused Russia of laying the groundwork for a referendum to cement its control of areas in eastern Ukraine, urging local residents to avoid giving personal data to Moscow’s forces.

“This is aimed to falsify the so-called referendum on your land, if an order comes from Moscow to stage such a show,” he warned.

In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin on Thursday hailed the “liberation” of Mariupol as a “success” for Russian forces, and ordered a siege of the Azovstal plant.

With Moscow intensifying its attacks in eastern Ukraine, the West stepped up military aid, including $US800m ($1.1bn) in new assistance from Washington announced by President Joe Biden. The Pentagon said the package included howitzers, armoured vehicles to tow them, 144,000 rounds of ammunition, and tactical drones developed by the US Air Force to address Ukraine’s needs.

Mr Zelensky told leaders of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank on Thursday that his country now needed $US7bn a month to function, accusing Russia of “destroying all objects in Ukraine that can serve as an economic base for life”.

In a fresh show of support, the Spanish and Danish prime ministers visited Kyiv, pledging more military assistance.

And Germany, under fire for not giving more to Mr Zelensky’s government, said it had agreed with eastern European partners to indirectly supply Ukraine with heavy weapons by replacing stock given to Kyiv.

Moscow announced its new countermeasures, slapping travel bans on US Vice-President Kamala Harris and dozens of other prominent Americans and Canadians.

Around Kyiv, the grim task of exhuming and cataloguing bodies left behind after Russia’s withdrawal continued. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, visiting Borodianka, said he was “shocked to witness the horror and atrocities of Putin’s war”.

Ukrainian officials say the bodies of more than 1000 civilians have been retrieved from areas around the capital, and they are working with French investigators to document alleged war crimes.

AFP